Nov 6, 2002 By Paul Sunyak 3 min read

While Democrat Ed Rendell cruised to victory in the governor’s race statewide as predicted, his margins of victory in Fayette, Greene and Washington counties was surprisingly tight. Given those counties’ large plurality of Democratic voters, Republican Mike Fisher fared quite well, losing to Rendell by 804 votes in Greene and trailing the Democrat by only 1,958 votes with 152 of Washington’s 184 precincts reporting.

Rendell had 54.3 percent, or 5,013, of all votes cast in Greene, where Fisher got 45.6 percent, or 4,209 votes. Rendell had 53.1 percent, or 16,374, of most votes cast in Washington, where Fisher got 46.8 percent, or 14,416 of those votes.

In Fayette, with 101 of 105 precincts reporting, Rendell led by 4,853 votes. Rendell had 57.7 percent of the Fayette vote, or 17,989 votes, to Fisher’s 42.2 percent of the vote, or 13,136 votes.

Fayette County Commission Chairman Vincent A. Vicites, who operated a phone bank for Rendell, said that of 3,300 Democratic voters contacted, 78 percent said they were voting for Rendell, 7 percent said they were not voting for him and 15 percent were undecided.

As election night wound down, Vicites said that with voter turnout in Fayette hovering around 40 percent, he thought that Rendell was on course to win the county by 7,000 to 8,000 votes.

“I’m pleased. It’s a solid lead (for Rendell) and it’s going to continue to grow when the (remaining) precincts come in,” said Vicites. “If this trend continues, the lead will broaden from 5,000 to 7,000 or 8,000. I had hoped for at least an 8,000-vote victory in Fayette … so it’s right on target.”

Vicites said that he examined the 2000 presidential election as a benchmark, taking note of Democrat Al Gore’s 8,000-vote margin of victory over Republican George W. Bush in that election and hoping for a repeat.

Christopher Sepesy, chairman of the Fayette County Republican Party, said that Fisher’s showing in Fayette was stronger than he expected and can be viewed as a solid building block for the GOP.

“I’m ecstatic with these numbers, to tell you the truth. This is a high number for a Republican. As well as with some of our other candidates, we are showing that the tide is turning slowly but very surely,” said Sepesy. “This is something that I can certainly build with.”

Sepesy said that with all of the negative feeling about Fisher’s polling numbers going into the last week, he was getting worried. “But I think that you had more than 13,000 people listening to that (debate), and realizing that the values espouse by the Republican Party are more attuned to their own,” said Sepesy. “It was more that I thought we were going to get – and certainly more than I asked for.”

Fayette County Democratic Party Chairman Fred L. Lebder could not be reached for comment. Fayette County Commissioner Sean M. Cavanagh, who traveled to Rendell’s Philadelphia headquarters election night, also could not be reached for comment.

Vicites, however, said that with a big turnout for Rendell in Philadelphia and its surrounding counties, Rendell’s election was virtually assured. He said that Fayette went solidly for Rendell as well.

“I think that with this (Fayette) rate and what the turnout is in Philadelphia, he’s well on his way to victory,” said Vicites.

With 78 percent of precincts reporting statewide, the Associated Press reported that Rendell had 55 percent of the vote, or 1.4 million votes, to Fisher’s 43 percent of the vote, or 1.1 million votes.